No. 1401
Lightning Surge in Distribution Line interconnected to Dispersed Generation with Special Reference to Renewable Energies
Investigating R&D Committee on Lightning Surges in Distribution Line connected to Dispersed Generation
Keyword : Renewable energy, Dispersed Generation, Distribution line, Lightning, Lightning protection
Renewable energies such as wind power generation and photovoltaic system are expected to be ones of the global warming solutions, because of their low carbon emission. Lightning is one of the reasons why wind turbine is not actively introduced in Japan. Most of Japanese renewable energies such as wind turbine and photovoltaic system have relatively low power capacity due to the limitation of construction. As a result, the Japanese renewable energies are often connected to distribution lines. This report describes lightning surges in distribution line coming from dispersed generations. Lightning damages in renewable energies and cascading faults in distribution line caused by the damage are mentioned. This report proposes insulation coordination between a dispersed generation and a distribution line should be considered to operate the dispersed generation stably. Smart meter, which is set at an entrance of a customer, will be rapidly installed. The smart meter is an important instrument for distribution line, customer, and dispersed generation, and plays an important role in smart grid. This paper investigates lightning performance of a smart meter having electronic circuits. The lightning protection for smart meter should consider breakdown due to lightning surge as well as malfunction due to EMC.

©2007. The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan